Inventory reconciliation

Abstract

Inventory reconciliation systems are provided. A representative system, among others, includes a processing logic to analyze a plurality of records, reject logic responsive to the processing logic, operable to reject an action taken on a record by an inventory management system, and accept logic responsive to the processing logic, operable to accept an action taken on a record by the inventory management system. Methods and other systems for network resource management are also provided.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A computer readable medium having a program for inventory control of a plurality of units, the program operable to perform the steps of: 
 retrieving a record containing information about a previous inventory and a current inventory;    determining whether the record from the previous inventory and current inventory match;    accepting the record responsive to a match in the previous inventory and current inventory; and    processing the record responsive to a mismatch of at least one item contained in the record.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein processing the record responsive to a mismatch of at least one item contained in the record comprises: 
 determining whether the record contains a retirement of any of at least one item in the record;    determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is a valid treatment of the retired items;    adding the retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being invalid.    
     
     
         3 . The program of  claim 2 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 accepting the retirement responsive to determining that a working unit was found.    
     
     
         4 . The program of  claim 3 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 accepting the retirement responsive to finding that the record was associated with a specific human equipment catalog item family.    
     
     
         5 . The program of  claim 4 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 accepting the retirement responsive to finding that the all items associated with the record are older than a predetermined period of time.    
     
     
         6 . The program of  claim 5 , wherein the predetermined period of time is five years.  
     
     
         7 . The program of  claim 2 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to the record including a continuing property record from a first list.    
     
     
         8 . The program of  claim 7 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting a retirement responsive to finding that the record was for a tool or a test set.    
     
     
         9 . The program of  claim 8 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the record was for a reclassified non-inventory item.    
     
     
         10 . The program of  claim 9 , where the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the record was for a modem or data set.    
     
     
         11 . The program of  claim 10 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for a MemoryCall unit less than a first predetermined age.    
     
     
         12 . The program of  claim 11 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for Orion plug-ins less than the first predetermined age.    
     
     
         13 . The program of  claim 12 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for difficult or impossible to track items.    
     
     
         14 . The program of  claim 13 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for video equipment.    
     
     
         15 . The program of  claim 14 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for cable television equipment.    
     
     
         16 . The program of  claim 15 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for power equipment less than the first predetermined age.    
     
     
         17 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement was for a record in which there was at least one spare scanned and all items in the record are less than the first predetermined age.    
     
     
         18 . The program of  claim 17 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that the retirement items less than a second predetermined age.    
     
     
         19 . The program of  claim 18 , wherein the step of determining whether the retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that an alternate rule applied for the retirement.    
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein processing the record responsive to a mismatch of at least one item contained in the record comprises: 
 determining whether the record contains a reverse retirement of any of said at least one item in the record;    determining whether the reverse retirement of any of said at least one item is a valid treatment of the item; and    removing the reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being invalid.    
     
     
         21 . The program of  claim 20 , wherein the step of determining whether the reverse retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 determining a value associated with said at least one item is below a threshold value; and    re-pricing said at least one item responsive to determining the value is below a threshold value; and    accepting the retirement of said at least one item responsive to the re-pricing of said at least one item.    
     
     
         22 . The program of  claim 21 , wherein the step of determining whether the reverse retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that said at least one item is a tool or test set.    
     
     
         23 . The program of  claim 22 , wherein the step of determining whether the reverse retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to finding that said at least one item is associated with an open job.    
     
     
         24 . The program of  claim 23 , wherein the step of determining whether the reverse retirement of said at least one item is valid comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement responsive to associating said at least one item with a non-inventory account with available funds.    
     
     
         25 . An inventory reconciliation system for reconciling a plurality of records between inventories of a central office, the system comprising: 
 processing logic operable to analyze the plurality of records;    reject logic responsive to the processing logic, operable to reject an action taken on a record by an inventory management system; and    accept logic responsive to the processing logic, operable to accept an action taken on a record by the inventory management system.    
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the processing logic comprises: 
 retirement logic operable to determine whether at least one item within the plurality of records was validly retired; and    reverse retirement logic operable to determine whether at least one item within the plurality of records was validly reverse retired.    
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the reject logic is operable to add back items that were not validly retired and remove items that were not validly reverse retired and mark the record as rejected.  
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the accept logic is operable to mark records as accepted upon the retirement logic or the reverse retirement logic determining that the action by the inventory management system was valid.  
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the retirement logic further comprises: 
 a first logic operable to determine whether a working item from the record was scanned;    a second logic operable to determine whether all items in the record are older than five years; and    a third logic operable to determine whether the record belongs to a specific human equipment catalog item family.    
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the retirement logic is operable to reject retirements of certain items less than a first predetermined age.  
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the retirement logic is further operable to reject retirements of certain items regardless of age.  
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the retirement logic is further operable to signal the reject logic responsive to finding retirements of items that are less than a second predetermined age.  
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the retirement logic is further operable to signal the reject logic responsive to finding retirements which exceed a threshold value.  
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the reverse retirement logic further comprises: 
 re-price logic operable to re-price at least one item associated with the record, such that the reverse retirement is valid.    
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the reverse retirement logic is operable to signal the accept logic when the reverse retirement is below a threshold value.  
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the reverse retirement logic is operable to signal the reject logic responsive to finding tools or test sets.  
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein the reverse retirement logic is operable to signal the reject logic when the additional units are associated with an open job.  
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein the reverse retirement logic is operable to signal the reject logic responsive to value being available from a probable vintage on a hardwire spreadsheet associated with the central office.  
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 38 , wherein the reverse retirement logic further comprises logic operable to re-price the reverse retirement, apply a volume discount, and debit a hardwire account.  
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the reverse retirement logic is operable to determine whether an item is being used differently than shown by a field reporting code associated with the item.  
     
     
         41 . A method of reconciling inventory, comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving a record containing information about a previous inventory and a current inventory;    determining whether the record contains a retirement of any of at least one item associated with the record;    adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to finding the retirement is an invalid treatment of said at least one item;    determining whether the record contains a reverse retirement of any of said at least one item associated with the record; and    removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item.    
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 accepting the record responsive to the previous inventory and current inventory matching.    
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 retiring said at least one retired item responsive to there being a working item found in the record.    
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein adding the retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 retiring said at least one retired item responsive to said at least one retired item being in a specified human equipment catalog interface family.    
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 retiring said at least one retired item responsive to all items in the record being more than five years old.    
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement of said at least one item responsive to it being in a specific category of items.    
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 46 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement of said at least one item responsive to it being in a specific category of items and is less than a first predetermined age.    
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 47 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement of said at least one item responsive to the item being less than two years old.    
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein adding at least one retired item back into the record responsive to the retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the retirement of said at least one item responsive to the retirement being in excess of a threshold value.    
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 accepting the reverse retirement of said at least one item responsive to a value associated with said at least one item being below a threshold value or can be re-priced to a value below said threshold value.    
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 50 , wherein removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the reverse retirement of said at least one item responsive to it being a part of a tool or test set.    
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 51 , wherein removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the reverse retirement of said at least one item responsive to said at least one item being associated with an open job; and    marking the record for manual review responsive to said at least one retired item having a greater quantity of items than are associated with an open job .    
     
     
         53 . The method of  claim 52 , wherein removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the reverse retirement of said at least one item based upon a hardwire account availability.    
     
     
         54 . The method of  claim 53 , wherein removing at least one reverse retired item from the record responsive to the reverse retirement being an invalid treatment of said at least one item comprises: 
 rejecting the reverse retirement of said at least one item based upon a hardwire account availability for a first field reporting code associated with said at least one item.    
     
     
         55 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein rejecting the reverse retirement of said at least one item based upon a hardwire account availability comprises: 
 using a second field reporting code to determine the hardwire account availability upon determining that said at least one item is being used for a different function than indicated by the first field reporting code.